Blast furnace bottom



April 1 ,1947;

A. B. AGNEW r srm.

BLAST FURNACE BQTTOH Filed Jan. 5, 1944 Janeen-Shoot 1 mvEmoRS BY MMM ATTORNEYS.

April 8, 194 7.

BLAST FURNACE BOTTOM Filed Jan. 5, 1944 A. B. AGNEW EI'AL a Shets-Sheet 2 f I J WlTNESSES: a. ow.

INVENTORS Cflwr-B,

ATTORNEYS.

April 8, 1947. B, AGNEw ET AL 2,418,742

BLAST l umums BOTTOM Filed Jan. 5, 1944 :s sheets-sheet a I N VE N TCES.

a r TOENE Y's Patented Apr. 3, 1947 BLAST FURNACE BOTTOM Albert B. Agnew, Indiana, Pa., and Frank J. Riel,

Chicago, Ill.

Application January 5, 1944, Serial No. 517.044

1 Claim.

The invention relates to blast furnace bottoms which are formed of a mass of refractory bricks and may be fifteen or more feet in vertical thickness. The top of such a bottom is in contact with the molten iron formed in the furnace, which is at a temperature of about 2300 F.. and the bottom sustains the weight of the pig iron and of the furnace burden above it.

In constructing a blast furnace bottom the prevailing practice is to lay plain rectangular brick on end in horizontal courses, bonded by refractory cement. The molten iron at its high temperature so attacks the bricks in the upper course that individual bricks loosen, and, being lighter than the iron, float upwardly in it. When this happens the molten iron may flow below the bottoms of the upper course of bricks and cause large portions of them to loosen and float upwardly. As a result thereof the life of the bottoms is materially shorter than it would be if the only loss of bottom refractory material were due to its normal surface disintegration consequent upon its constant contact with the molten iron.

The object of this invention is to provide a blast furnace bottom formed of bricks that are so provided with ribs and recesses, and so laid in a mass, that each complete brick is engaged by four or more other bricks to restrain it from floating upwardly, and that the paths of downward flow of molten iron between the bricks is effectively interrupted.

The blast furnace bottom provided'according to this invention is formed of a mass of bricks that are laid on their ends, each having a pair of opposed vertical faces that are divided into adiacent longitudinal bands. one band on each of these faces is provided with a rib and the other with a coextensive recess which is positioned opposite to the rib. Each such rib is preferably positioned medially of the band, and each preferably has horizontal top and bottom faces effectively to interrupt the pathof downward flow of molten iron. ranged that the adiacently disposed bricks medially overlap each other both vertically and horiaontally, and that the ribs of each interlock with recesses of adjacent bricks.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, of which Fig. l is a vertical central sectional view of the lower portion of a blast furnace having a bottom formed acccrding'to this invention: Fig. 2 a fragmentary sectional elevation to enlarged scale of some of the main body of brick at the bottom as seen in Fig. 1, the plane The mass of bricks are so ar- 2 of view being indicated by the line 11-11, Fig. 4;

Fig. 3 a fragmentary sectional elevation of lower The preferred form of bricks 3 for forming the bottom according to this invention is that shown in perspective in Fig. 5, it being there shown resting on its end in the vertically disposed position the bricks occupy in the furnace bottom. While the brick may be of various sizes, it is preferably 12 x 9 x 4 inches.

The brick has a flat top 4, a flat bottom I, and a pair of opposite flat vertical faces 8 and I. Its other pair of opposite vertical faces are each divided into adjacent longitudinal verticallyextcnding bands, the width of each of which is one-half the width of the brick. One of these bands is provided medially with a flat faced rib 8 and the other with an adjacent coextensive and correspondingly shaped recess 9. Rib 8 bemg one-half the height of a brick and medially positioned, it isadjoined at each end by a recess in which is one-half the vertical length'of rib 8. Similarly, recess 9 on the other band being one-half the length of the brick and corresponding in size to rib 8, is adiolned at each end by a rib H which is half the length of recess 9.

These ribs and recesses are the same on both of the opposite sides of the brick, although rib 8 is opposite to recess 8 and half recesses iii are op- 40 posite half ribs ii.

While the full length ribs 8 and recesses 9 have been described as being half the length of the brick, and recesses Ill and ribs H as being half the lengths of the full size recesses and ribs, it will be understood that ribs 8 are sufflciently less and recesses 8 sufliciently more than half the length of the brick to afford the necessary clearance between boundaries of the ribs and recesses to permit their interlocking with 5 0\ each other when the bricks are laid in a mass to form a blast furnace bottom with refractory cement between adiacent faces. Preferably the top and bottom faces i2 01 each rib and the top and bottom faces l3 of each recess are flat and lie in substantially horizontal planes when the -pam for possible now and escape screws to facilitate pressing the bricks in the usual manner.

As has been stated, in forming a blast-furnace bottom according to this invention adjacently disposed bricks medially overlap each other both horizontally and vertically, and ribs of each brick interlock with recesses of adjacent brick. To

assemble thebricks in this fashion and at the same time form fiat horizontal faces on the upper andlower surfaces 01' the furnace bottom, it is 1 necessary to use rows ,of half bricks, [5 at the bottom and the top alternatin with. rows of full length bricks, asshown in Figs. 2 and 4. As

shown in Fig. 2 the. bricks medially overlap each" other vertically so that half ribs H of-adjacent I bricks in a vertical tierv interlock with the full length medial recesses S in an adjacent brick,

and" that each full length rib a interlocks with the half recesses l0 1 atf the 'endsfoff adjoining bricks in the vertical tier. "l'hetopand bottom ends of ribs 8 and the top and bottom ends ii of recesses 9 being horizontal=,fthe vertical I of molten-iron iseflectively interrupted;

The mediaioverlapping of bricks in a horizontal direction is illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4 which showthatthe paths of possibleflow and escape ofmolten iron between? the 'edges of the bricks is interrupted. Fig; 3 aisoillustrates the vertical banding of opposed faces of the bricks, each brick Bhavi'n'g one of its verticalbands provided with a-medialrib 8 and adjoining'half-of recesses l0, and-its adjacent vertical band provided with a recess 3 and adjoining half of ribs ii. Y

r bricks-from which the biastfurnace bottom is formedmay be readily pressed in the usual manner, and they are provided with'a pair of opposed flat faces upon which they may'rest foriiring without sagging and without liability of being otherwise distorted. I When" the bricks are laid in the manner shown and explained, each full 4 within the scope of the appended claim, the in. vention may be practiced otherwise than specifically illustrated and described.

We claim:

A blast furnace bottom formed of a deep mass of vertically disposed bricks superposed in broken horizontal courses and each brick having a rectangular parallelepiped body with a pair of its opposite vertical faces'divided into tw'oadiacent vertically disposed bands of like width, one band on each face being provided medially with a flat faced rib of parallelepiped form'which extends substantially half the vertical depth of the brick and, with vertically adjacent recesses of like form each extending substantially one-quarter of thevertical depth of the brick, the other band on the same face being'provided medially with a coextensive and correspondingly shaped recess horizontally opposite to said rib and with coextensive and correspondingly shaped ribs horizontally opposite to s'aid iirst- -mentioned recesses, each of said ribs and recesses on one fac'e b'eing opposite to a corresponding recess and rib, respectively, on th'e' other face, adiacently disposed bricks constituting said mass medially overlapping each other both vertically'and horizontally, and the ribs of each brick interlocking with recesses of adjacent bricks, wherebyfeach' wholebrick throughoutthe mainbody ofthe However, wedesire to have it understood that,

mass is engaged on each of its said faces byfiour horizontally adjacent j bricks and is"thereby restrained from floating upwardly into molten metaland paths oi downward flow of; moltenj metal are interrupted by horizontal adjacent faces oi the inter-engaging'ribs. I, I

ALBERT B.-. AGNEW FRANK J, RIEF', I

nmaamvcas l I The following references are of file of this patent: I I

' UNITED ST TES PATENTS Date Number Name 2,266,785 I 'MCLlB-ifl Dec. 23, 1941 2,082,698 Karmanocky Junel, 1937 959,846 D'E1ia May-'31; 1910 2,295,352 MacDonald Sept. 8, 1942 FOREIGN Ps'rnrrrs Number Country Date 15,956 -'British July 3, 1914 372,191 Italian record-in the 

